Naan - Oven Baked Flat Bread
Naan, the most popular Indian bread in the Western word. Naan can be the main attraction going to an Indian restaurant, naan directly coming from the clay oven “tandoor” taste heavenly. The texture and the earthen aroma from naan! It is so easy to just fall in love with Naan. My naan recipe uses a regular home oven and a clay pizza stone to give the naan same exposer as a clay oven.
Servings 3 people
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour plain flour, maida
- 1 tsp active dry yeast
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- ⅛ tsp baking soda
- 2 Tbsp oil canola, vegetable
- 2 ½ Tbsp plain yogurt curd, dahi
- ¾ cup lukewarm water use as needed
Also needed
- 1 tsp clarified butter (ghee) to butter the Naan
- ¼ cup All Purpose flour for rolling
Instructions
- Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water and let it sit for 10 minutes or until the mixture becomes frothy.
- Add sugar, salt and baking soda to the flour and mix well.
- Add the oil and yogurt to make crumbly dough. Add the water/yeast mixture and additional water as needed to make into firm dough. Note: The dough will soften as it rises.
- Knead the dough until smooth. Cover the dough and keep in a warm place three to four hours, until nearly double in volume.
- Heat the oven to 500°F with pizza stone (baking stone) approx. thirty minutes, until stone is hot. Using a baking/pizza stone will help to give the naan close to same kind of heat as a clay tandoor. Next turn the oven to high broil.
- Knead the dough for about one minute. Divide it into six equal parts. Roll each piece of dough, into eight ovals. Dust the surface lightly with dry flour to help with the rolling.
- Lightly wet your hands and flip the rolled naan between your palms. Place two naan on your baking/pizza stone and put it into the oven.
- Bake the naan two at a time. The naan will take two to three minutes to cook, depending upon your oven. The baked naan should be golden brown on top.
- Take naan out of the oven and brush lightly with clear butter or ghee.
- Wait two to three minutes before baking the next naan to give oven a chance to regain lost heat.
Notes
If pizza stone is not available, use baking sheet. If using baking sheet, once the top of the naan is cooked, turn them over to cook on the other side.
Serve naan with popular dishes like Dal Makhani, Palak Paneer or any vegetable dish.